Big change coming and needed on Sabres roster.

[Eleven]

IIRC, Antipin hasn't actually signed, right?

[WildCard]

IIRC, Antipin hasn't actually signed, right?

Right. I don't believe he can until his team is finished with the playoffs.

[Taro T]

Darcy got fired for tanking?

No. He got fired for sneaking into Terry Pegula's hidden stash of Snickerdoodles. That was simply too much suffering for 1 man to bear.

[dudacek]

UFAs: Kulikov, Franson and Nilsson are almost certainly gone. Gionta might be.

Somebody - likely Moulson or Ennis - is gone in the expansion draft.

And there will almost certainly be a trade made for a new defenceman, which will likely mean someone else has to get traded.

 

So I'd be surprised if there aren't five or six guys shipped out over the summer.

 

But Ullmark, Bailey, Carrier, Fasching, Nylander, Baptiste, Smith, Rodrigues, Guhle and apparently Antipin will be gunning for jobs next year too. So, I'd say at least half of the new faces coming in won't be "new."

 

I'd say they try to acquire two NHL defencemen, and maybe (if Ullmark goes to Vegas, which I suspect he won't) a back-up goalie from outside the organization.

[Mustache of God]

I'm expecting as much as a 50% turnover in the Sabres roster this summer. Why? What we have now isn't working.

The Sabres defense is terrible. We are 1st in most shots allowed and until recently, we had the worst PK.

Because of excellent goaltending we actually only 20th in GA at 219 and 19th in GA 5 on 5. We could see 5 new players on the blue line next season.

 

The forward group in many ways is worse then the D. Despite Kane's heroics, the Sabres, despite the NHLs best PP and a reasonable 13th in shots for, sit 24th in GF at 193 and 27th 5 on 5. In fact after Kane's 24 5 on 5 goals, Jack and Foligno are tied at 13 for second. ROR has 11, KO 12, Gionta 11 are next. Sam has only 8 even strength goals. Moulson and Ennis have 7 between them.

 

To fuel this change the Sabres have 12 prospect at or near NHL ready in Nylander, Bailey, Baptiste, Smith, ERod, Carrier, Fasching, Antipin, Guhle, Nelson, Austin and Ullmark. Couple that with 10 FAs including Ullmark, Lehner Nilsson, Gionta, Foligno, Larsson, Girgensons, Franson, Kulikov, and Fedun, and you a roster ripe for turnover. Now also factor in 4 bad contracts in Bogo, Ennis, Moulson and Gorges with marginal NHLers Falk and Delo on 1 years deals and you have 6 more turnover canidates. One final turnover candidate is Kane, who GMTM might need to trade to get a top 4 D.

 

Ultimately only 7 of are top 23 players is certain to be here next season. Everyone is subject to change.

 

The overhaul that needs to happen is the coach.

 

I think all of our UFAs will not be back so we can say goodbye to Gionta, Kulikov and Fransen

 

I'm hoping we lose Ennis or Moulson to Vegas and DLO gets buried in the AHL.

 

Kane isn't going anywhere.

 

Anitpin and Guhle join the team

 

Our number 1 pick this year is being dealt along with Girgensons or god-willing, Bogosian in return for a top 4- dman

 

Ullmark replaces Nielson

 

Here's how I can see the lines looking like with new additions bolded (as in guys who aren't on the team right now or played the majority of the season).

 

Forwards:

 

Okposo - ROR - Kane

Foligno - Eichel - Reinhart

Smith/Baily - Larsson - Fasching

Carrier - E-Rod - Moulson

 

xx Baily or DLO

 

Defense:

 

Risto - McCabe

Antipin - Acquisition for our 1st round pick package

Guhle - Bogo

 

7th man: Gorges

 

Goal:

 

Lehner - Ullmark

 

 

That's about 7 "new" faces of our 23 man roster, ~30% overhaul.

[dudacek]

By the way, even the GMs of successful teams expect to turn over about a quarter of the roster every year.

Part of that is contract-related, part of it is to avoid stagnation.

Edited April 4, 2017 by dudacek

[PASabreFan]

No. He got fired for sneaking into Terry Pegula's hidden stash of Snickerdoodles. That was simply too much suffering for 1 man to bear.

:wub:

[Doohickie]

Somebody - likely Moulson or Ennis - is gone in the expansion draft.

 

Y'all keep saying that.  Ullmark is the one that will get drafted by Vegas.  Just watch.  We'd love it if it was Moulson or Ennis but naw, ain't happening.

[dudacek]

Y'all keep saying that.  Ullmark is the one that will get drafted by Vegas.  Just watch.  We'd love it if it was Moulson or Ennis but naw, ain't happening.

Avatar bet? Wolf eating a chicken versus chicken pecking a wolf?

[WildCard]

Y'all keep saying that.  Ullmark is the one that will get drafted by Vegas.  Just watch.  We'd love it if it was Moulson or Ennis but naw, ain't happening.

I don't think Ullmark is worth them drafting honestly

[Robviously]

:lol:  :lol:  :lol:

[Doohickie]

Avatar bet? Wolf eating a chicken versus chicken pecking a wolf?

 

Nah.  At this point I feel so meh about this team, nothing's worth a bet right now.

[pi2000]

Y'all keep saying that.  Ullmark is the one that will get drafted by Vegas.  Just watch.  We'd love it if it was Moulson or Ennis but naw, ain't happening.

 

Could be, but I doubt it.... for a few reasons.

 

1) Much better goalies out there to choose from.   Bishop, Bernier, Smith, Subban, Johnson, Darling, Varlamov, Howard, Reimer, Halak, Raanta, Mason, Fleury....

 

2) Ullmark makes only $775k.   Vegas needs to draft a minimum of $43.8mil worth of players in the expansion draft.   That's an average of $1.5m per player.    

 

3) They need to take a minimum of 3 goalies in the draft.     I'll bet they take 3 exactly... 3 from the list I provided above.    Ullmark is a B prospect, they won't be interested.

[Brawndo]

Reinhart: "It's frustrating from our standpoint cuz it's not just going 2 change overnight & it's not just going to change over a summer."

[matter2003]

How does his team with all its supposed "Veteran Leadership" mail it in so often??

 

Gionta, Gorges, O'Reilly are all supposed to be top notch leaders, but yet this keeps happening?? That's not acceptable...something doesn't add up to me. There is no way possible this can be true and the effort we saw last night continues to happen in half their games for at least a period or two...

[Jsixspd]

We already had our 50% roster turnovers during the early months of Tim Murray's regime.  So did Chicago after Rocky Wirtz took over - but they saw some quick results.  

 

Sabres, OTOH.... 

 

The problem is - Sabres' management have replaced mediocre performance with mediocre performance.  A rebuild is only successful if the talent improves;  Moulson, Gionta, Ennis, Bogosian, Kulikov, Gorges,  Lehner....    C'mon - does anyone see a push for the Cup happening with these guys being a key part of the roster?   And they've all been added or extended by our supposedly super-competent, knowledgeable, Stanley Cup bound GM.   


Garbage in, Garbage out.  

[SabresBillsFan]

I live in Vegas and it's not going to be Moulson coming here. Moulson is too slow for this current NHL. McPhee is going to pick a mostly young team with a sprinkle of Vets. Remember they have to also fill up a minor league squad as well. We will lose Girgs or Ennis if exposed.

We already had our 50% roster turnovers during the early months of Tim Murray's regime.  So did Chicago after Rocky Wirtz took over - but they saw some quick results.  

 

Sabres, OTOH.... 

 

The problem is - Sabres' management have replaced mediocre performance with mediocre performance.  A rebuild is only successful if the talent improves;  Moulson, Gionta, Ennis, Bogosian, Kulikov, Gorges,  Lehner....    C'mon - does anyone see a push for the Cup happening with these guys being a key part of the roster?   And they've all been added or extended by our supposedly super-competent, knowledgeable, Stanley Cup bound GM.   

Garbage in, Garbage out.

 

I agree with all those players on that list that need to go. I just find it crazy that Kulikov and Bogo seem to have no clue on how to play defense anymore. This team needs a major shakeup this summer and most teams need help on defense so I highly doubt teams are going to want to trade a young defenseman to Buffalo for a top ten pick in a weak draft.

[Georgia Blizzard]

I thought I recall that Moulson's contract prevents him from being sent to Rochester, so, Sabres can't just ship contract to AHL and get it off their books, is that true ?

 

Also, bigger issue for Sabres cap hit is 2018-19, so, it doesn't make sense to buyout Gorges, might as well absorb his contract in full in 2017-18 and then have no impact on 2018-19 when the Eichel/Reinhart deals kick in

 

Edit: trying to answer my own question, CapFriendly says Moulson has M-NTC which does allow him to be sent to minors, if that's the case, why not just bury his contract in Rochester like Sabre did with Kotalik (sp?) a few years back ??, anyone ?

 

 

Edit part 2: Ok, so, much for that idea --- Sabres would only save about $1M on cap --

 

What is a Buried Contract?

Teams do not receive full cap relief when a player on a one-way NHL contract is reassigned to the American Hockey League, or is loaned to a team in another professional league. 
The players salary cap hit, minus the sum of the minimum NHL salary for the respective season and $375,000, still counts towards the team’s salary cap total. 
The cap hit relief is therefore equal to the minimum salary of the respective season + $375,000:

• 2014-15: $550,000 + $375,000 = $925,000
• 2015-16: $575,000 + $375,000 = $950,000
• 2016-17: $575,000 + $375,000 = $950,000
• 2017-18: $650,000 + $375,000 = $1,025,000
• 2018-19: $650,000 + $375,000 = $1,025,000
• 2019-20: $700,000 + $375,000 = $1,075,000
• 2020-21: $700,000 + $375,000 = $1,075,000
• 2021-22: $750,000 + $375,000 = $1,125,000

Edited April 4, 2017 by Georgia Blizzard

[Guest]

Jsix, I have been complaining for months about the garbage on this roster and GMTM's acquisition of those garbage players. This thread is to show that most of that dead weight can be sent packing including the failed leaders that Matter mentioned in Gorges and Gionta. While buying out Gorges only saves a little money and does spread his cap hit over 2 years, it does send a message we are moving on.

 

Rob Ray was interviewed on the NHL radio network on my way home from work yesterday and he is expecting major turnover including as many as 4 new D for next season. He agreed with us that other then Risto and McCabe the rest of the D need to go. Pretty bold statement for a Sabres employee.

 

I do disagree on Lehner. He is not a garbage player and his stats relative to the team playing in front of him are excellent. Ray said he is the strongest competitor in the locker room while actually being a pretty relaxed and friendly guy off the ice. We need more personalities like that on this team.

Edited April 4, 2017 by yse325

[tom webster]

Jsix, I have been complaining for months about the garbage on this roster and GMTM's acquisition of those garbage players. This thread is to show that most of that dead weight can be sent packing including the failed leaders that Matter mentioned in Gorges and Gionta. While buying out Gorges only saves a little money and does spread his cap hit over 2 years, it does send a message we are moving on.

 

Rob Ray was interviewed on the NHL radio network on my way home from work yesterday and he is expecting major turnover including as many as 4 new D for next season. He agreed with us that other then Risto and McCabe the rest of the D need to go. Pretty bold statement for a Sabres employee.

 

I do disagree on Lehner. He is not a garbage player and his stats relative to the team playing in front of him are excellent. Ray said he is the strongest competitor in the locker room while actually being a pretty relaxed and friendly guy off the ice. We need more personalities like that on this team.

Ray said 1 or 2 would definitely be replaced. Never said he expected 4. Schoop said he'd like 4, I believe it will be 3.

[MattPie]

Ray said 1 or 2 would definitely be replaced. Never said he expected 4. Schoop said he'd like 4, I believe it will be 3.

 

I can't imagine Franson back, especially if he posted that thing about Toronto last night. McCabe and Risto will be back. I'd like to see Bogo and Kulikov back if there is a new coach that doesn't expect them to be better passers than all but a handful of D in the league are. I think it's telling that, as someone above put it, they "suddenly don't know how to play D any more". That says, as others have, no one on the team understands how D zone coverage works and it's all second guessing.

[Doohickie]

I can't imagine Franson back, especially if he posted that thing about Toronto last night. McCabe and Risto will be back. I'd like to see Bogo and Kulikov back if there is a new coach that doesn't expect them to be better passers than all but a handful of D in the league are. I think it's telling that, as someone above put it, they "suddenly don't know how to play D any more". That says, as others have, no one on the team understands how D zone coverage works and it's all second guessing.

 

Franson didn't post that; a reporter posted that he said it... and didn't provide context.

 

I still think there's a reasonable chance that there will be minimal turnover beyond the obvious, DD will be back next year, and the team will be noticeably better.  I say that for two reasons:

 

1. The young core will be another year older.

 

2. With no improvement in the team this year, DD will know his job is on the line and will spend the off-season constructing a system that takes advantage of the team's strengths as opposed to the team conforming to some cookie-cutter role in a system he imposed on them.  The first thing to do along those lines is to admit (to the team, probably behind closed doors) that his system was crap and next year's Sabres will be playing under a new, improved system.

 

Can DD come up with a winning system for today's NHL?  I don't know, but it's got to be obvious even to him that his current system just isn't working.

 

I think the most likely scenario is that a few players change and DD will still be coaching next fall.  If the Sabres come out of the gate hot, life will be fine.  If they put the same product on the ice as this year and stumble at anywhere near .500 (in points, not W/L), DD will be gone by November.

[Sabel79]

Disco has promised he was working on #2 before...

[Doohickie]

I know.  But this time he's going to actually do something about it, or he will be gone by the holidays.  If he doesn't view it that way, he's a fool (and that may very well be the case unfortunately).

[Sabel79]

I know.  But this time he's going to actually do something about it, or he will be gone by the holidays.  If he doesn't view it that way, he's a fool (and that may very well be the case unfortunately).

I mean, fool me once...